USA ( the LA) Arson Suspect Also Faces German Fire Probe

The man who allegedly ignited more than 50 fires that terrorized Los Angeles last week is also under investigation in Germany for a house fire near Frankfurt.

U.S. investigators also disclosed Wednesday that a search of Harry Burkhart's Hollywood apartment turned up news articles about the Los Angeles fires and a series of car blazes in Germany last year.

The disclosures came on a day when Burkhart made an awkward first court appearance in Los Angeles, where he appeared dazed with his long hair matted on the front of his face, and alternated between sitting and standing.

The ponytailed Burkhart was arrested Monday near the Sunset Strip in a van with Canadian license plates loaded with fire-starting materials, and he has stonewalled investigators while being placed on a suicide watch. His mother, Dorothee Burkhart, appeared disoriented in federal court Tuesday after being arrested on a fraud warrant from Germany, where she referred to Nazis and questioned if her son had died.